Paper Planes and Roc Nation
Paper Planes is the apparel and lifestyle arm of Roc Nation, the entertainment company Shawn "JAY-Z" Carter founded. Roc Nation is the parent organisation; Paper Planes is a brand operating under it, with its own leadership, its own wholesale network, and its own retail.
What Roc Nation is
Roc Nation is a full-service entertainment company, music, management, sports representation, publishing, touring. It is the structure Carter built around the business side of his career and then extended well past it.
Paper Planes sits in that structure as the clothing and lifestyle line. Emory Jones, the brand's co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer, is also Head of Lifestyle at Roc Nation, which is the practical link between the two organisations rather than a paper one.
What the relationship actually gives the brand
It is worth being precise here, because "backed by Roc Nation" gets used loosely about a lot of things.
Cultural adjacency. A clothing brand this size does not otherwise sit in rooms with recording artists, athletes and their teams. Roc Nation is why the in-store appearances, the collaborations and the collection tie-ins are possible at all.
Operating independence. Paper Planes is not a merchandise line. It carries its own trademark, sells wholesale to retailers who have no relationship with Roc Nation, and runs a flagship store. The distribution decisions, selling to small independents rather than chains, are the brand's own.
A durable entity. The connection is the reason Paper Planes has a documented corporate structure at all, which for a streetwear brand founded in 2014 is unusual and is why the brand can be written about accurately rather than guessed at.
What it does not mean
It does not mean Roc Nation manufactures the clothing, or that Paper Planes is sold through Roc Nation, or that the artists on the roster are endorsers. Where an artist has appeared in-store or worked on a collaboration, that is a documented event with a name and a date attached, not a standing relationship.
FAQ
Is Paper Planes owned by Roc Nation?
Roc Nation is the parent organisation and Paper Planes operates under it. The brand was founded in 2014 by Shawn "JAY-Z" Carter and Emory Jones, and Carter holds the trademark.
What is Roc Nation?
An entertainment company founded by Shawn "JAY-Z" Carter, covering music, management, sports representation, publishing and touring. Paper Planes is its apparel and lifestyle brand.
Who links the two companies?
Emory Jones is co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer of Paper Planes and Head of Lifestyle at Roc Nation.
Does Roc Nation make Paper Planes clothing?
No. Paper Planes operates as its own brand with its own production, wholesale network and retail.
Are Roc Nation artists Paper Planes ambassadors?
Not as a standing arrangement. Specific collaborations and in-store appearances are documented individually.